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Prehistoric Human Brain Found Pickled in Bog
Discovery ^ | Wed Apr 6, 2011 05:30 AM ET | Jennifer Viegas

Posted on 08/17/2012 8:51:17 AM PDT by null and void

A brain in near-perfect condition is found in a skull of a person who was decapitated over 2,600 years ago.

THE GIST
• One of the world's best preserved prehistoric human brains was recently found in a waterlogged U.K. pit.
• The brain belonged to an Iron Age man who was hanged and then decapitated, with his head falling in the pit shortly thereafter.
• Scientists believe that submersion in liquid, anoxic environments helps to preserve human brain tissue.


One of the pieces of a 2,600-year-old brain after removal from the skull. 
York Archaeological Trust

A human skull dated to about 2,684 years ago with an "exceptionally preserved" human brain still inside of it was recently discovered in a waterlogged U.K. pit, according to a new Journal of Archaeological Science study.

The brain is the oldest known intact human brain from Europe and Asia, according to the authors, who also believe it's one of the best-preserved ancient brains in the world.

"The early Iron Age skull belonged to a man, probably in his thirties," lead author Sonia O'Connor told Discovery News. "Cause of death is rarely possible to determine in archaeological remains, but in this case, damage to the neck vertebrae is consistent with a hanging."

"The head was then carefully severed from the neck using a small blade, such as a knife," added O'Connor, a post-doctoral research associate at the University of Bradford. "This was used to cut through the throat and between the vertebrae and has left a cluster of fine cut marks on the bone."

The brain-containing skull was found at Heslington, Yorkshire, in the United Kingdom. O'Connor and her team suspect the site served a ceremonial function that persisted from the Bronze Age through the early Roman period. Many pits at the site were marked with single stakes. The remains of the man were without a body, but the scientists also found the headless body of a red deer that had been deposited into a channel.

Laser imaging, chemical analysis and other examinations revealed that the brain naturally preserved over the millennia. The scientists found no evidence for bacterial or fungal activity, and described the tissue as being "odorless…with a resilient, tofu-like texture."

The condition of the brain is remarkable for its age.

"In the air, even in the chill of a hospital mortuary, brain tissue very quickly decays to liquid before muscle and other soft tissues show much evidence of decay," O'Connor said.

She and her colleagues suggest that a fortuitous series of events -- for the brain and science, not the victim -- led to the organ's preservation. Shortly after the man was killed, his head must have been placed, or fallen into, the waterlogged pit that was free of oxygen. While other soft human body parts may not preserve well under such conditions, the wet environment appears to be perfect for keeping brains "fresh," "due to the very different chemistry of brain tissue," O'Connor said.

The researchers don't think the violent way the man was killed aided his brain's preservation. While severing his head separated it from the rest of his body, including the bacteria-filled gut, the decapitation "would also have produced a gaping wound that would have been open to immediate infection from micro-organisms involved in putrefaction." The quick burial in conditions not suited for microbial activity likely prevented that from happening.

In addition to describing this unusually well preserved brain, the journal paper provides the first in-depth study of other prehistoric human brains and soft human tissues discovered by scientists. They include the body of the 5,000-year-old Tyrolean "Ice Man," the Inca mummies of the high Andes, the tanned bog bodies from across Northern and Western Europe, good condition bodies sealed in lead coffins -- such as the St. Bees man, and crypt burials at places like Spitalfields Church, London, where bodies with surviving brain tissue were found.

Glen Doran, chair of the anthropology department at Florida State University, told Discovery News that two aspects of the new study immediately struck him as "notable."

"First," he said, "such preservation is testimony to the amazing preservation in wet sites. Truly amazing things come out of the muck."

"The second, he added, "is the absolutely stellar analysis brought to bear on this special find."

Based on this discovery and other known prehistoric, intact human brains, he agrees that rapid burial in an aqueous environment, as well as near-continual submersion, are essential to human brain tissue preservation.

"The cranium is well designed to protect the brain in life and can, under the right circumstances, remain on duty long after the normal expectation of service," he said.


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: ancientautopsies; brain; godsgravesglyphs; heslington; ironage; pickledbrain; yorkshire
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Hey Joe! We found it!
1 posted on 08/17/2012 8:51:22 AM PDT by null and void
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To: null and void

Pickled? A Democrat, no doubt.


2 posted on 08/17/2012 8:52:18 AM PDT by Past Your Eyes (What if there is no tomorrow? There wasn't one today.)
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To: null and void

Pickled Bog will be the name of my signature hot sauce someday.


3 posted on 08/17/2012 8:52:42 AM PDT by Lazamataz (I love the Universe, and it loves me.)
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To: Past Your Eyes

Perhaps an early Kennedy?


4 posted on 08/17/2012 8:54:35 AM PDT by null and void (Day 1305 of our ObamaVacation from reality - Heroes aren't made Frank, they're cornered...)
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To: null and void

Let’s restart the brain and see what he’s lived through.


5 posted on 08/17/2012 8:54:50 AM PDT by Lazamataz (I love the Universe, and it loves me.)
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To: null and void

2600 years is hardly prehistoric.


6 posted on 08/17/2012 8:55:24 AM PDT by polkajello (Romney: The Lesser of Two Weasels)
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To: null and void

Pickled? A Democrat, no doubt.


7 posted on 08/17/2012 8:55:48 AM PDT by Past Your Eyes (What if there is no tomorrow? There wasn't one today.)
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To: Lazamataz
Good idea, what could possibly go wrong?...
8 posted on 08/17/2012 8:56:11 AM PDT by null and void (Day 1305 of our ObamaVacation from reality - Heroes aren't made Frank, they're cornered...)
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To: null and void

Oh for Peats sake!


9 posted on 08/17/2012 8:56:41 AM PDT by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: null and void

LMAO!


10 posted on 08/17/2012 8:57:14 AM PDT by Past Your Eyes (What if there is no tomorrow? There wasn't one today.)
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To: null and void
Ahh! That's where it went:


11 posted on 08/17/2012 8:57:26 AM PDT by Slyfox
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To: null and void
Good idea, what could possibly go wrong?...


12 posted on 08/17/2012 8:57:44 AM PDT by Lazamataz (I love the Universe, and it loves me.)
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To: null and void

Yep, certainly had to have a Joe Biden reference on this thread.


13 posted on 08/17/2012 8:58:11 AM PDT by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter knows whom he's working fors)
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To: null and void

Mmmm. Brownies !


14 posted on 08/17/2012 8:58:52 AM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (If you like lying Socialist dirtbags, you'll love Slick Willard)
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To: Lazamataz

My signature hot sauce is “Holy Chipotle”!


15 posted on 08/17/2012 8:59:01 AM PDT by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: null and void

You got this from someone named what?

“Abbie Normal”


16 posted on 08/17/2012 8:59:11 AM PDT by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter knows whom he's working fors)
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To: Lazamataz

17 posted on 08/17/2012 9:00:44 AM PDT by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: polkajello

Seriously. Perhaps they meant before they rewrote history?


18 posted on 08/17/2012 9:03:14 AM PDT by brytlea (An ounce of chocolate is worth a pound of cure)
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To: null and void

Or maybe they finally found Hoffa.


19 posted on 08/17/2012 9:03:33 AM PDT by super7man
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To: Lazamataz

Gosh, I hate to admit this, but it’s the first thing I thought when I read the headline. It’s kind of freaking me out that you said it.


20 posted on 08/17/2012 9:04:18 AM PDT by brytlea (An ounce of chocolate is worth a pound of cure)
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